You need not look any further than the exclusive Resistance A-wing Fighter (Red Squadron) to see how poorly fans and collectors receive Sequel Trilogy products and how they perform at retail. A vehicle that perfectly mirrors a starship from the Original Trilogy should have been well-received, but instead, it never made it to Walmart’s shelves or online store, the retailer whose exclusive for which this was intended. Then collectors breathed a sigh of relief as online retailer Entertainment Earth put it up for pre-order months after its intended release. But as time moved forward, units began showing up at ROSS for a fraction of what Entertainment Earth was pre-selling them. Shortly after that, Entertainment Earth sent out cancellation notices that the Resistance A-wing Fighter (Red Squadron) was no longer produced by the manufacturer. That’s quite a bit of drama for a retailer’s exclusive to go through, and sadly it’s becoming a trend that is more common than not now. Despite the problems of securing the Resistance A-wing Fighter (Red Squadron), we have to say it’s a nice looking toy and not a bad choice for a vehicle barely visible in Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. But will collectors care enough to work hard and get one into their collections?

Most of the same features of the Original Trilogy A-wing fighters vehicles are present here. A front flip-down landing gear leg can be pulled from the hull of the ship and be used to support it in a landing mode. Its wings function as the rear landing support. The cockpit canopy lifts from the front back and can easily house the included Resistance A-wing Pilot pack-in figure, this time it a black female pilot, the first in the line. The area where she sits is large, so it looks like it can accommodate larger action figures too, although we haven’t tried this to verify anything. The canopy closes easily all the way when the figure is inside the cockpit. You might expect something simple like this to be the case, but Hasbro for years have been guilty of making cockpits that didn’t fit the figures intended for the vehicles. So we’re appreciative there are no issues here at all. There are two missile launchers you clip onto the sides of the vehicle and fire projectile missiles with the push of a button. But as far as play features are concerned, that is where the fun sort of ends. You can enjoy the rest of the fun through the Force Link technology. We’re grateful to see no signs of NERF anything here. That was one of the worst things Hasbro has ever included, in the toy line and it’s refreshing to see that approach has finally bit the dust.

The Resistance A-wing Pilot is another nice pack-in figure. As huge fans of 2017’s SW [TLJ] Resistance Gunner Paige basic figure, we’re very ready for any more Resistance pilots because Hasbro does a fine job at making them look fabulous, even if they’re only 5POA. The Resistance A-wing Pilot is a bit unique from the other female pilots you have seen from the past. In good faith, the Resistance A-wing Pilots still don green-colored flight suits, and this pilot, sadly unnamed, is no different here. Her helmet isn’t removable, but that’s alright. Hasbro designed both a beautiful helmet as well as a beautiful face sculpt and the “one piece” looks perfectly scaled and perfectly placed for our tastes. It looks like she has a new head sculpt, but it could just be how Hasbro repainted the figure. If you look at the back of the figure, you can see her hairstyle below the lower rim of the helmet. The sculpt, and the paint operations of the figure are gorgeous. As a helmeted figure, we don’t have to concern ourselves with the likeness that much, but it does seem to imitate the actress well. She comes with a blaster pistol that she holds very well too. It’s a true shame how much adversity this exclusive has gone through. But you have to wonder how much of this release’s issues are because of Hasbro or simply because the collecting community doesn’t want Sequel Trilogy products.